Thursday, February 21, 2008

Well, I did it. I am going to be teaching a class on fermented foods at Pima Community College this Spring.

I received a call from Pima Community College with an interest to have a class on Effective Microorganisms™. After going through what would be the most popular topics, cooking classes stood out. There is a growing trend in the Raw Foods and Fermented Foods arena. As more and more people focus on health, they are learning about the benefits of probiotics and fermented foods.

My cooking experience and interest in raw foods peaked my interest in teaching a class on using EM•1® EM America store to make foods. So much of cooking is intuition. You can learn the basics and branch out from there to make concoctions that suit your tastes. I generally start with a recipe and incorporate EM•1® into the recipe. Some of the recipes I came up with are on the EM America website (Raw Food Recipes). Since I normally just make something to taste, I normally don't measure ingredients. This is a bad habit when you actually want to create a recipe, but is really how things are done in the professional arena. All recipes are really just guidelines for chefs to follow up on to remind them of how they created something they liked.

In the class I plan on showing people how to make a couple of the recipes on the EM America site and also how to make a couple other things. I wanted to show how to make beer, but am not allowed to due to school policy.

Here is the information on the class:

CF117 – Introduction to Fermented Foods

Learn to make some simple, healthy foods that are Raw, Organic and Live!We’ll make a fermented Balsamic Vinaigrette that has an extended shelf life, a fermented health drink with natural carbonation, and some salsa that is packed with nutrients and is easy to digest.All of the foods provide natural probiotics to the body.Join us to prepare the latest in gourmet food that is a powerhouse of nutrition.$15 food fee per person.